Eye Exams for Kids

It is so important to get kids in for routine eye exams.  School screenings are great, but not comprehensive.  Kids with vision problems often do poorly in school, dislike reading, and even can develop attention problems.  If they cannot see well, have double vision or get headaches when they read, they will not be very motivated to spend extra time doing those activities.  This can lead to boredom and resultant attention and behavior problems in some kids.  Sometimes, kids are diagnosed with dyslexia or learning disabilities, but in reality, they have some sort of vision difficulty at the root of their problems.  

The American Optometric Association and Uptown Eye Care recommend the following schedule: 

• InfantSee exam: 6months - 12months of age (FREE Program)
• Age 3
• Age 5
• Annually

Often as kids grow, we can see large changes in their vision, so we feel it is very important to get them checked annually, or even sooner if you are noticing symptoms of squinting, or hearing them complain about things getting blurry.  It's not unheard of to see large fluctuations within 6 months.  

In addition, many children and teenagers have undiagnosed accommodative problems or convergence problems.